Police seek fourth suspect in fake bill arrests

ALTON — The Alton Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating the fourth suspect in a series of cases where counterfeit $100 bills were passed.

According to a press release issued Friday, the first incidents occurred at businesses on East Broadway in Alton on Sept. 8. At that time, the Alton Police alerted the public to be on the lookout for individuals passing counterfeit $100 bills and offered counterfeit detection pens to business owners at no charge to assist in identifying counterfeit money.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, an alert employee at the Family Dollar store on Washington Avenue, having heard about the recent incidents, recognized a $100 bill as possibly counterfeit. The employee didn’t stop at just alerting the police to the crime, she acted as a good witness and obtained a detailed description of the suspects, their vehicle and their direction of travel.

Officers of the Alton Police Department Patrol Division swiftly located the suspect vehicle and pursued it across the Clark Bridge. With ground and air support from St. Louis County Police, officers safely and successfully apprehended Eric D. Marion, 22, of St. Louis and Dion Price, 20, of Florissant.

Alton General Case Detective Marcos Pulido was assigned the cases and personally conducted hours of follow-up and interviews. His work paid off, and two other suspects were identified as Kai D. Bowers, 20, of Florissant and Tylon D. Beasley, 19, of Bridgeton.

Bowers and Beasley were each charged with three counts of forgery and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Marion has been charged with four counts of forgery and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Price has been charged with seven counts of forgery, one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and one count of aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. Bond was set for each suspect at $75,000.

Price and Bowers were in custody in the St. Louis County Jai Friday and Marion is in custody in the Madison County Jail.

Beasley is not yet in police custody. He is described as a 19-year-old black male, approximately 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighing approximately 125 pounds. Anyone with information regarding Tylon D. Beasley’s whereabouts should contact the Alton Police Department Investigations Division at 618-63-3505 extension 234. The Anonymous Tip Line number is 618-465-5948.